By Dhruvi Shah
The IPL 2026 auction has been confirmed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to include a total of 350 players as the final auction pool instead of the initially proposed longlist of 1,355 players, after careful consideration with all ten of the franchises. The mega auction is on track to take place on December 16, 2022, at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, with the starting time being 1 PM UAE local time (which is 2:30 PM IST).
Surprise Addition of Quinton de Kock
One surprise of this group of 350 players will be the presence of South African Quinton de Kock as a wicket-keeper and a batsman. Initially absent from the original draft, de Kock’s name came to light via a franchise recommendation. In his return to the game after reversing his international retirement, Quinton de Kock made his comeback to the international scene after scoring a hundred against India in Visakhapatnam recently.
Quinton de Kock will enter this auction with a base price of INR 1 crore, significantly lower than INR 2 crore (previously the value his signing earned him by the Knight Riders at the last mega auction). A season to forget for the franchise led to the Knight Riders choosing to release him and will provide an opportunity for him to be back in the auction bidding war once again in the wicketkeeper and batters category (lot number three).
Sri Lanka Has Added New Players to the Auction List
There were a number of late additions from Sri Lanka who joined the final auction list at the last minute, including:
Traveen Mathew
Binura Fernando
Kusal Perera
Dunith Wellalage
With the number of recent additions to the auction list, franchises are taking this opportunity to look at young and up-and-coming domestic talent as they prepare for the next important mega auction cycle.
Structure of the Auction and Some Noteworthy Players
To kick off the auction process, capped players will be first, organised within their respective roles of batting, all-rounders, wicketkeeper-batters, fast bowlers, and spinners. Next will be the uncapped players within the same roles.
Cameron Green will lead the first set of auctioned batters (BA1) along with the following players:
Devon Conway
Jake Fraser-McGurk
Sarfaraz Khan
Prithvi Shaw
David Miller
Among all-rounders, Venkatesh Iyer is expected to be a standout from the AL1 group.
The auction’s accelerated phase starts after player number 70, Wahidullah Zadran from Afghanistan. The remainder of player numbers, 71-350, will be displayed and auctioned off quickly, then every team will have an opportunity to request additional unsold or unpresented players to form another accelerated round.
New Players Added to the Auction List at the Last Minute
The BCCI has reiterated that the final auction list for the upcoming auction consists of the franchises’ direct requests or wills, thus resulting in many debutants being granted last-minute entry or requests.